114 million people watched Kabaddi World Cup 2016

As per BARC, as per viewership data, the India-Iran final became one of top 50 most watched events on television in the last one year (since inception of BARC in April 2015)Gaurav Laghate | ET Bureau | Updated: November 14, 2016, 12:03 IST

India may have lifted the third World Cup in Kabaddi, but for Indian men in blue, this was the first time of witnessing such thunderous response from the fans everywhere, be it on-ground, on-air or online.

As per BARC’s TV viewership data, the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup, which saw 33 matches played between 12 countries in a span of 16 days, clocked a viewership of a whopping 114 million.

The flagship event saw participation from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Iran, Poland, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Korea, Japan and Kenya. Also, the final match played between third-time finalists, India and Iran, garnered 20.3 million impressions (number of viewers which saw the event at any time), higher than the biggest non-cricket international sport event – PV Sindhu’s badminton final at the Rio Olympics 2016 (16.7 million impressions).

In fact, as per viewership data, the India-Iran final became one of top 50 most watched events on television in the last one year (since inception of BARC in April 2015), across languages and genres.

To put in perspective, prior to 2016, two Kabaddi World Cups were played (in 2004 and 2007) and India won both of them, beating Iran each time. But, very few people even remember those.

“For all practical purposes, we look at 2016 World Cup as the first tournament of this scale,” says Nitin Kukreja, CEO of sports business at Star India.

Star India owns majority stake in Pro Kabaddi Legue (PKL), the league-format Kabaddi tournament, which can be attributed with popularising the sport in the country, as well as telecast rights of the Kabaddi World Cup.

“This World Cup has taken the sport to a different level. While we have seen a definite increase season-to-season in PKL, the World Cup has established India’s love for Kabaddi very strongly,” Kukreja added.

He shared that 30 per cent new viewers tuned in for the World Cup, showing a trend of Kabaddi’s increasing popularity in the country.

“We started PKL in July 2014. Between then and October 2016, these 27 months, we have conducted 4 seasons of PKL and one Women's championship. Every time we have seen viewership and buzz increasing. The final match of World Cup had a 25 per cent higher viewership that season finale of PKL4,” added Kukreja.

“And not just on-air, even on-ground, we saw a euphoria with all India matches being sold out well in advance and even non-India matches witnessing near houseful audiences.”

A senior media agency executive said her client missed the bus on partnering with the event as they were apprehensive of the property.

“Now they have told me to engage with the broadcaster early on,” she said on condition of anonymity. “Kabaddi, as a sport, has seen an unprecedented rise in India. It's only a matter of time when advertisers will have to take a call.”